


Above all, to my love I’ll be attentive

by Sogequeen



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Father-Son Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, father!zoro, veterinarian!Sanji
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2020-01-13 16:49:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18473056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sogequeen/pseuds/Sogequeen
Summary: Roronoa Zoro is a wealthy twenty-five-man, heir of one of the biggest companies in the world, current the second-best fencing athlete, with a few Olympics’ medals and World Fencing Championship’s trophies gathered around his luxurious apartment complex, listed on Forbes as one of the most influential people and Vogue’s most handsome men, one could think he was a snobby and superficial man, but would be deadly wrong, he was raised to be humble, to understand that his money shouldn’t speak for all his actions and to value his and others value and morals first.But still, he didn’t understand why someone like him, with so much more to do, had to be on this shitty farm to see a stupid horse bought by Kidd.





	1. Of horses and blond annoying dudes

“Dude, it was the best investment of my life, seriously”

Kidd was annoying, he always knew that, why were they friends was the biggest mystery of his entire life, he didn’t remember meeting him, or the process of building a friendship, he was just there in his life, maybe what people say about riches knowing all the other riches it’s true after all.

Roronoa Zoro is a wealthy twenty-five-man, heir of one of the biggest companies in the world, current the second-best fencing athlete, with a few Olympics’ medals and World Fencing Championship’s trophies gathered around his luxurious apartment complex, listed on Forbes as one of the most influential people and Vogue’s most handsome men, one could think he was a snobby and superficial man, but would be deadly wrong, he was raised to be humble, to understand that his money shouldn’t speak for all his actions and to value his and others value and morals first.

But still, he didn’t understand why someone like him, with so much more to do, had to be on this shitty farm to see a stupid horse bought by Kidd.

“A horse? An investment?”, how could that be? It was just a dumb animal, not Apple’s tittles.

“Man, do you have any idea how much people pay for its… what’s it called? Fools?”

“Foals?”, a little voice said.

“Yes! That! Thank you, little dude”

Zoro couldn’t help but smile, Anthony, the “little dude”, was so goddamn smart for six years old that it always surprised him. That was why he was there, Chopper got so excited when he heard about Kidd’s new “investment” that he did not find enough strength in him to say no to this stupid visit. The kid’s enthusiasm made the visit less boring, his sweet voice filled the car as they approached the farm’s central building. Stopping by the fancy cars, Zoro couldn’t stop to think that it looked more like a holiday cologne then a stall for horses, the building was colonial like, as if they were at a influential person’s house back to the old slavery days, the fancy Italian cars made the atmosphere similar to an Italian villa, the only thing disturbing it was Kidd’s Range Rover and an old Jeep Cherokee, from where he was standing he could see a sand field where he believe the horses were exhibited to it’ owners, but even that place seemed too fancy, it certainly wasn’t what Zoro was expecting. Helping Chopper climb off the car, he couldn’t help but notice his disappointed face.

“What’s wrong, buddy?”

“Where are the horses?”, he was pouting now.

“Oh, my!”, an unknown voice started, “They are kept in another place, they just come here on special occasions.”, even the guy who said it looked too expensive to work on the country side, no boots, no beat-up jeans, no flannel, he was wearing white leather dress shoes, dark-green cigarette pants, a blue dress-shirt and suspenders.

“Bellamy, hi!”, the guy shook Kidd’s hand, “we are here to see my champion! This are Zoro and Tony”. Small talk and introductions done, they followed Bellamy to where he told it would be the horse’s stall, it was clear that the dude was not supposed to be here, as the path became dirtier, the darker his expression became, it was so clear he was disgusted to that place, _this must be his father’s place._

Opposed to that, Chopper’s excitement grew each step, when he heard a neigh, he started jumping and pulling Zoro’s hand.

“Daddy! Come on! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s goooo!”

They had reached a large field with large hay bales beside a large wood shed, from where the neighs came.

“Are we going there? Please, say yes, please, mister Bellamy!”

The man apparently like kids just as much as he liked this place, it was clear that Chopper rather loud happiness was disturbing him. Zoro definably didn’t like this place now, especially after Bellamy decided to ignore his son.

“Come on, buddy! Let’s bet a race until there!”, oh, right, that’s one of the reasons he was friends with Kidd. They counted till three and raced towards the shed, Chopper laughing like a crazy behind the red-haired.

They entered in the wood shed and it was so bigger than it looked like from the outside, it was enough to quiet the two kids, but only for a few seconds, it had at least 20 stalls and from what Zoro knew from the news, they were bigger than some people’s houses. Out of sudden Bellamy decided to be pleasant.

“This is where our gold nuggets are, all of them with the best pedigree in the country, dare I say the world”, he said laughing, fuck, Zoro hated fake laughs, “Morgan, English Pure-Blood, Clydesdale, just the excellence! And some of them are available for any purchaser with business vision”, _that was why he is being so nice_ , “or maybe for someone looking for a present for his son”

_Oh fuck_

“CAN WE HAVE A HORSE?!”. Twenty stalls, in each one, **each one** , he had to heart two and a half men trying to convince him to buy a fucking horse, right now he wanted to meet Kidd’s horse so bad it hurt his brain, so he decided to do the tour by himself.

Not to say that he got lost, but he did.

After wandering, he finally found himself on a much bigger space, it was cleaner, the pavement below had no remands of shit and the whole place smelled faintly like lemongrass, there were two doors in the room: a large one, where the horses could enter and a regular one, where he was now. In front of him, there was the bigger animal he had ever seen at live, it was easily 2 meters tall, pure muscle, its fur was black and so shiny that was almost blindly, and his paws had the straightest white hair hanging like a boot. It was beautiful and inviting, he walked close enough to touch its velvety muzzle.

Fortunately, someone was fast enough to pull his hand away right before the horse’s mouth close around his hand.

“Are you fucking insane?! You don’t reach a horse from its blind spot, and you most certainly do not fucking touch it! Especially not an unknown one!”

The blond looked at him as if he was the most stupid thing in the world, it pissed him off.

“How I am supposed to know that?!”

“Fuck look around you, the least you expect from someone inside a horse stall is to know the basics about horses! And stop screaming!”

“You are the one screaming!”

“I’m also the one veterinarian this particular mare is used to since she was a little foal, so shut the fuck up, she is starting to stress”, the animal was more agitated than before, stomping around and moving its head from side to side, he would never guess she was doing it from stress, but he guessed that was why that guy studied after all.

He quiets himself then, against his will, but did it anyway, opting to observe the blond doctor as he worked over to calm down the mare. The man was wearing a green long-sleeved overall, with its sleeves pulled up at his elbows, and leather Timberland like boots, his hair was pulled back in a small ponytail, even though his bang remained slightly in front of his right eye. He was handsome and Zoro found himself wishing those careful hands were caressing him instead, the guy was speaking in a low tone, like a mother would speak towards her child after a nightmare, the whole thing was beautiful and peaceful in a way he did not understand.

“She is beautiful”, he heard himself saying without even realizing.

“I know right!”, the blond turned to him with a smile that remembered Chopper’s after receiving a compliment, it was actually cute.

“What is it?”

The guy laughed then.

“You are really dumb about horses, aren’t you? Its breed”, and he said ‘breed’ in a way that highlighted how much dumb he thought Zoro was, “is called Shire, it’s English and the bigger kind of its species”.

He remained quiet again, his hands clenched by his side, he felt like his son, he wanted to pet that mare, badly. Apparently, the veterinarian could read human beings as well because he came closer and held his hand, almost interlacing their fingers to unclench his fists, and raised it to the animal’s neck, but before he reached it, he felt himself tense a little bit.

“Don’t worry, she is the sweetest”, it was the same voice from before, and, surprisingly, being treated like a horse didn’t offended him.

So, he let his hand being pulled toward the black fur. His fingertips traced the outline of her neck muscle and the blond left him alone, moving to the mare’s rear to continue his medical inspection, tapping her left leg to see her hoof. Now placing his entire hand on the animal, he started to caress it like he would do with a dog, moving to her nose, without living her field of vision. He smiled when, after a few pets, she did something funny, life a sniff.

“She likes you”

“Does she have a name?”

“Jasmine”, the vet was so focus on his task, Zoro started to think if he was disturbing the guy’s work.

“So, she has an owner, that’s sad”

“Why?”, apparently, he had his attention now, and the blond looked kind of tense.

 “I was thinking about giving her to my son as a birth-”

“Did he ever want one?”

“Today was the first time he ever saw a horse, he got so excited.”

“You’re saying that you want to give it to him just because he asked one?”

“Yes”

“Don’t”

“Excuse me?!”, he didn’t high pitch his voice.

“Look, animals are not gifts, I know it looks cute, a rabbit on Easter, a dog on Christmas and stuff like that, but just… don’t ok? It’s not something to give, as if it was a pair of new jeans, it requires thinking, so much thinking.”, great, he managed to stress the guy enough to make him stop his work, the blond walked over a metal table to pick up something. Zoro was offended, but too astonished to say anything, usually people didn’t talk to him like this.

“Do you have any idea how many horses here are just presents? Rich pricks come here, put a fucking ribbon on them, give it to their kids and never appear anymore, I’m not implying that you are gonna do the same, but fuck, I’m so tired of this shit!”

For some reason, Zoro’s anger faded, looking back to Jasmine he thought about the guy’s words.

“The same works for her?”

“No”, now he had a stethoscope pressed on her armpit. “Now, shut up.”

Zoro waited until he had finished to continue.

“If you hate it so much, why work here?”

“I don’t work here”, another pause as he listened to her stomach now, “she’s from a friend, so I’m her doctor, I’m not here regularity, but it’s enough to understand the system.”

He stayed there until the exam was over, if he disturbed the guys work he didn’t complain. When he finished, they both escorted her back to her stall, but did not leave until the blond gave Jasmine one last caress and a kiss on her muzzle.

Back to the villa, and he thanked god for the blond, because he didn’t want to get lost again, he found only Bellamy waiting for him.

“Sir, your son and friend are waiting for you inside”, he did not fake his sympathy with the other blond, “Vinsmoke”, he said as if it disgusted him.

“Drop dead”, the blond said with a smile that seemed too sweet to the venom of his words, he turned to Zoro then, “It was a pleasure to meet-”, he was gonna continue it, but his phone ringed and as he read whatever it appeared on the visor his smile vanished completely, “shit!”.

It was all he said after fleeing to the old Cherokee.

 

* * *

 

 

 A month had passed since that day, and the blond still appeared in Zoro’s head, why the fuck didn’t he left a name? And why didn’t Zoro remembered the goddamn fucking name that asshole called the blond?! Fuck him.

He had just arrived home, Chopper came running towards him and he smiled as he felt the weight of a day’s work leaving him as he picked the kid up, receiving a kiss on the cheek.

“Daddy, daddy, look!”, he shook frenetically a paper in front of his father’s eyes, “it’s a day of ‘School in the Zoo’ can we go?! It’s being soooooo long since we went out!”

Work was crazy, he didn’t have time to think straight lately, but his weakness was Chopper asking to spend more time with him.

 

* * *

Two weeks later they when to the zoo, him, Chopper and a couple of mothers with their own kids, all of them Chopper’s friends. The “class” were a full tour at the zoo and then something like a real lesson at the end, the group was headed towards the room were the class was going to be, everyone sat down, kids in the middle of the room, on the EVA carpets and parents at the back, on the chairs provided.

It was calm, and boring to Zoro, until the class was about to start and a blond guy with bands falling on his right eye, a blue macaw on the left shoulder and a breathtaking smile enter in the room.

“Good evening, I’m Sanji Vinsmoke, head-chef veterinarian of the Bronx Zoo, and today I’m gonna be your teacher.”

 


	2. Of zoos and weddings

Of course, the hot blond hunting his thoughts lately would be the one teaching the stupid “zoo class”, not only teaching, he would be fucking gorgeous doing it while holding a gigantic parrot, never would Zoro be in favor of owning wild animals just for beauty, but damn him if he didn’t understand those who did it. The guy, Sanji, that was his name, was rambling about the importance of Zoos for preservation and stuff, not that Zoro was paying attention, his mind was too busy thinking of different ways of watching the blond using his mouth, none of those had anything to do with passing eco-friendly information to youngers.

“This lovely lady here, for an example, does anyone knows her species?”

Loud, acute screams followed the question, but his face only lit when Chopper gave him the right answer.

“A blue macaw?”, his son was so shy, it was just a weak whisper, but somehow, Sanji and the macaw manage to listen. The bird did a sound that remember Zoro of a rubber duckling and flapped his wings a little.

“Yes, that’s right”, he rubbed the back of its neck, making the animal skim his goatee, like a mutant cat, then he laughed turning towards it, “that’s what you are! What’s your name, little guy?”

“Anthony”, his cheeks pink, he had his eyes down.

Before he said anything, his eyes stopped in Zoro, allowing him to see few seconds of recognition in those cerulean pools before he focused completely on his son, kneeling before him.

“Hi Anthony, you look pretty smart, do you know anymore things about her species?”

“They mate for life”, then, from a whisper, his voice became higher suddenly, like all the times he received a compliment, “And don´t call me smart! That doesn’t make me happy at all!!”

The change surprised both in front of him, but if anything, it made the blond more delighted by the kid.

“You are so right, I think it is the most beautiful thing in the world, don’t you?”

Now, all the kids were answering again, in a frenzy of voices that him, somehow, manage to give all of them at a little bit of attention, they were all speaking about how amazing animals were, how much they loved them, with Sanji always saying something to remember the kids how important their preservation was, until another staff person, a woman with blue hair and Arab features came inside the fake classroom, greeted them all and spoke something to Sanji about Blue and Jasper starting to get nervous, hearing that, the blond excused himself and the macaw, telling her to say goodbye to the kids. Of course, the commotion was phenomenal when the animal spoke a squawked “bye”.

“Isn’t that amazing, daddy?!”

“Sure it is, little bud”, he ruffed his son’s hair.

 

* * *

 

 

It took the blond some good 20 minutes to comeback, at first, Zoro thought this tour had ended, after all the dude had a fucking purse with him, but then a whole new commotion started when a furry head popped out of his bag. A baby kangaroo, a FUCKING KANGAROO was in the purse, fuck Zoro and his little stupid crush, but a hot, smiling and appealing blond with a literal kangaroo purse was a fucking sweet view, and apparently the other moms thought the same and where very little discreet about it, looking at Sanji as if he was a Prada.

After another whole class about animals and preservation tips, the blue haired girl came back with a dark-skinned blond and two funny little dogs.

“I hope you guys are ready to meet Rascal and Rino”

More fuzz. This was starting to be too much for Zoro’s liking, and apparently for Chopper too, he was there with friends, but the kid was a true introverted when it came about interacting with other children for too long. They were now discussing all of Chopper knowledge about deserts and the furry little animals.

“So, what’s the dog’s name again?”

“Dad! Their names are Rascal and Rino, their species is fennec fox, they are not dogs!”, the kid laughed, as he always did when Zoro said something stupid.

“Actually, they are dogs’ close cousins”, the deep voice startled Zoro, in a not too nice way for a dude in a room full of mothers and children. Sanji was looking down at them, furry thing in hands, a little too freighted for an animal that was supposed to interact with kids.

“Is he ok?”

The guy seemed surprised by his question. It took him some time to process his answer.

“He… he’s… Yeah, just a little nervous, can’t be around kids too much, they are too loud for him.”

“He’s like me!”, Tony looked entranced by that little information, if his amazed whisper hadn’t been enough clue, his big brown, now shiny, eyes, was a good one.

Again, his kid seemed to capture even more of the veterinarian attention and, dare him to say, affection. Why wasn’t him like his son?  While he couldn’t even hold more than 2 seconds of eye contact with the man, Chopper was now engaged in a conversation with the blond, that was now sit crossed-leg with the fur ball in between his thighs, about foxes, behaviors and… canines? Since when did Chopper knew about these terms? Before he could ask his son about it, the younger one gave an exited squeak when the fennec got up from Sanji’s thighs and walked towards the kid, sniffing him before rising its hip and swinging its tail.

“Looks like he liked you, Anthony, why don’t you try to pet him?”, fear flashed into his eyes, “don’t worry, Rascal won’t bite you, but he will nibble you if he’s felling extra-friendly.”

The man was doing the exact same thing he did to Zoro back in the stable, the sweet voice, the reassuring words, maybe Zoro should be angry for knowing now that he was treated like a child, but it only got his crush worse, Chopper was his weakness in every question.

 

* * *

 

After few more minutes the blue haired woman informed the group that, unfortunately, their time was done, making the kids whine, by the perspective that they were gonna leave the animals.

“I have one last question.”, one of the mothers said. She was the only single in there, married a rich old fart and, for her misfortune, he passed away leaving everything he owned for her and the kid.

“I think we have time for that.”, the other blond told her after looking to his coworkers.

“The blue macaw, how much do you want for it?”

If the atmosphere was nice before, it all crumbled at that very same moment.

“Excuse me?”, the zoo woman looked astonished, as if someone asked her if she wanted to fire a gun at her mom.

“You heard me, I want it, I don’t care the price.”

“It’s not on sale”

“Honey, everything is on sale if you discover the right price.”

The woman’s mouth opened and closed several times, her face was now red, Zoro guessed that was an outrage for her to hear such a vain thing, for him, it was just another day.

“Miss, with all due respect, do you know why that _Brazilian_ animal it’s here in the States? Because of people with your thoughts. She was part of an illegal traffic seizure, there were twenty like her in the load, addressed to a rich fella just like you, I was in the team to save those birds, I’ve never seen more horrendous thing in my life, I’ve never seeing more blood and broken bones before, not even during my graduation time. Miss, do you know how many we saved? Three out of twenty, just because someone discovered their right price.”

“You shouldn’t talk about such gore things in front of children.”, her face was priceless. Typical of riches that don’t take “no” as an answer mixed with horror.

“And maybe you shouldn’t speak such idiotic things”, the blue haired murmured, making Zoro smirk and forcing her coworker to hold back a laugh.

“I just do this to aware people the consequences of their acts.”, Sanji’s hands trembled, but his voice was still suave and pleasant.

A moment passed before the woman stormed out the room, pulling her child with her as if it was a deadweight, soon enough the others followed her.

 

* * *

 

 

Father and son where heading to the zoo’s nursery one last time, after another visit to the entire place, chit-chatting about what they liked more about that day, well, Zoro was just listening to Chopper’s rumbling.

“Everything was so amazing, I can’t believe we’ve never been to a zoo before! What did you like the most, dad? I loved the elephant! Can you please pick me up? I want to see the babies! Look! It’s mister Vinsmoke!”

The nursery had only one family in it, two little birds and their mom, who was now perched on a very familiar blond, now with a medical coat around him, that was inspecting the ugly little babies. After a moment taking few notes and petting the entire family, he saw them, smiled and waved, before disappearing behind a large door.

Fuck Zoro’s heart for skipping a beat.

 

* * *

 

Two months later, Zoro found himself at a wedding inside the New York Museum of Natural History, only Robin could know about this fancy salon inside it. The ceremony had just happened and now the party was starting to run wild, courtesy of the groom and his friends, how Robin, a sober, calm and filthy rich woman, ended up falling for a loud, eccentric and simple man like Franky, was beyond his comprehension. A man that, right now, was up on a table that certainly was supposed to be the cake’s with two others grown up men singing to a cheesy pop song, as if they were a boy band, and as if it wasn’t enough, the others were cheering for him as if it was a real show, it was a ridiculous scene, but he couldn’t deny it seemed funny. Aside from that, it was a calm weeding, he was enjoying the bar, relaxing for the first time in so long, taking turns watching Chopper while he talked excited with Robin about the museum and her husband being a happy idiot.

It was fine, really, until his eyes captured a blond person bending down, hands on his stomach as he laughed with, nay, at, the ultimate fuzz. His heart stopped, a goddamn recurrent thing since meeting the veterinarian, every time he saw someone resembling like the guy he would, unconsciously, he swears, try to look better, more handsome, anything to, spontaneously, attract the other attention, but whoever was in front of him, it was never the fucking blond he wanted. Except this time it was. Sanji was at the party, groom’s guest apparently, tailored navy blue three-pieced suit, white dress shirt and brown polished to perfection shoes. The only way he could look better was if the suit wasn’t on him and he was spread underneath Zoro. It was his chance, maybe now he could call his attention as much as Chopper did at the zoo, but for some reason, his first reaction was to leave immediately the Sanji’s radius of vision, practically running towards Robin.

“Where do you know him from?”, Robin, calmly looked at him.

“Who exactly?”, fuck that woman for her calmness.

“The blond, with your husband.”

“Oh, Sanji”

“MISTER VINSMOKE IS HERE?!”, with that Chopper ran out.

 

* * *

 

 

Once more, Zoro found himself sit with Chopper and Sanji excitedly talking about animals and the zoo. Shit, that wasn’t supposed to happen again, he loved his son, but damn him for ruining his chance.

“What you said that time, about the macaw, was it true?”, the kid sounded concerned and horrified. The question and tone broke something inside the blond man.

“I hate to say it, but it is, humans can be caring, but most time they are just cruel.”

“But you are on the good team, right?”, his browns were in a frown, his question voiced his hope. Sanji, seemed a little lost, wide-eyed for a second, before looking at Zoro and smiling delighted at him, making his heart beat faster, then looked down at Chopper once more.

“Yes, I believe I’m in the good team”

“That’s really good! Now I’m gonna play a little bit, ok?”, and so he left to play with three kids.

“You got a really special kid, you know?”, Sanji said looking at the children.

“So I’ve heard.”

Silence.

“Where’s his mom?”

“Have no idea.”, that seemed to attract the blond attention, making him look at him, astonished.

“Please, don’t tell me she’s dead.”, Zoro smirked.

“No, she just felt him for me, then vanished.”

“You’re joking, right?”, Zoro denied, moving his head. “Dude, you are like, filthy rich, aren’t you? I believe in women with my heart, I don’t think they are vain nor self-seeker, but damn, not taking the opportunity of becoming rich as well seams a little unlikely.”

“Sometimes I still think that she will reappear to ask me for money.”, they laughed a little.

More silence, an uncomfortable one.

“I must say, your calmness that day at the zoo was pretty admirable.”

The memory of the episode made the blond take a sip of his drink and rub his temple.

“Tell me about it, I hate to talk like that to ladies, they deserve all the love in the world, but it’s hard to not fell angry when someone says so much bullshit.”

“The bitch deserved it”

“Don’t you dare call that beautiful lady by such ugly names, you green-haired buffoon!”

Again, he wasn’t used to unknown people calling him names, it was awkward, but somehow funny, making him laugh.

“I can believe I’m talking with such a pussy slave!”

“I-I-I’m not such thing! You don’t fucking know a shit about me you grass!”, he was so outraged, Zoro never knew he could have so much fun just from offending stupid people.

“Whatever helps you to sleep at night, pervert.”

“Do you wanna fucking go?”

Chills ran down his spine, both for the perspective of fighting and having the chance of touching the blond.

“Bros stop it!”, stupid Franky.

There was a minute of palpable tension, until Sanji spoke again.

“Fine, but just because it’s your weeding.”, then he went back to where his friends were.

“I know, right! I’m super lucky for finding Robin. Now come on, Zoro-bro, I’ve always wanted to introduce you to my super buddies.”

Oh, he was screwed.

 

* * *

 

Or not, Franky friends turned out to be as nice as they were loud, and Tony seemed to like them just as well. Nami was really nice for a bitchy-witch, Usopp was an interesting guy, sweet wife and three kids that adopted Chopper as their new best friend, Luffy was the perfect combo of annoyance and sympathy, Vivi, the girl from the zoo was just as kind as she seemed in the class, and all the others, endearing in the most bizarre way.

It was the end of the party, everyone was bidding their goodbyes, he hugged Robin, congratulating her truly for, what he realized, the first time.

“Why did you never introduce us?”

“Didn’t think you’re gonna like them, too noisy for you.”

“Oh.”, he couldn’t deny his disappointment.

* * *

 

Father and son were heading towards their car, when suddenly Chopper stopped and pulled Zoro’s sleeve.

“I forgot to say goodbye to mister Vinsmoke!”, there he was running again, thank goodness Sanji wasn’t too far away for Zoro to lose his son, who screamed “Mister Vinsmoke!” and jumped right into the guys arms, that even surprised had great reflexes and caught the child into a hug. “Goodbye, mister Vinsmoke!”

“Goodbye, little guy! You can call me Sanji, you know?”, they were looking at each other, like they’ve known each other for years.

“Ok! Mister… no! Sanji, will I see you again?”

Uncomfortable silence once more.

“Well, if you father agrees to meet us peasants like my beautiful Robin does…”

“Father! They are not peasants, that’s really impolite!”

Sanji laughed as Zoro joined forces not to break those perfect teeth.

“I’ve never called anyone that!”, then he mouthed “fuck you” for the blond, but that only made his smile grown wilder.

“Then you’ll have to prove it for us, next Saturday, there will be a small party at Robin’s, Robin’s and Franky’s now, I guess… anyway, she told us you were invited, but you have a tendency to ignore her invitations, specially if more people are involved…”

“I’ll be there then, to prove how humble I am.”, he smirked, mimicking the blond expression.

“We’ll wait you then”

Zoro wanted so much for that sentence to have a different meaning.

“We will go?! YES!”, he raised his little fists in the air, making Sanji laugh once more before putting him down.

“Now I must go or else my ride is gonna leave me here, I’ll see you two then.

“Bye-bye!”, Chopper waved one last time as Zoro nodded to bid goodbye himself.

They were going to see each other again.

Saturday.

That would not be good for his heart.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I'm sorry for the delay, but well, college is trying to kill me.  
> Let me make myself clear here, I love Sanji with all my heart, but I hate his "lover side" sometimes, so i'm probably change it a little bit, just so i wont get angry at him while i'm writting.  
> I hope you guys liked it, leave your comments about it, your suggestions, maybe, your love.  
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Of crazy parties and sleepovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everytime you read "whole", remembered I wrote "hole", because I'm a dumb fuck. And if there are any "hole"s instead of "whole" still, remember again that I'm indeed a dumb fuck.

An hour into the madness this people called a party and Zoro was already regretting all his life choices.

 

* * *

 

 

 His week had been normal, until Thursday had come in, with Chopper waking him up from his day off nap holding the cellphone and screaming “Sanji wants to talk with you”. That made his heart stop for a second and speed up right after, fuck him and his stupid crush. It took him a moment to recompose himself from the nap and from the smallest heart attack in the world to finally answer the phone.

“Yes?”, he sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes trying to wake his brain up.

“Morning, sleeping Marimo! I just want to confirm if you and your rich ass will be attending to our humble party”

_Damn_.

Zoro wasn’t going to admit he had forgot about the invitation, but he did. He was a busy man after all. Busy and lonely, that’s what he was, he wasn’t used to people inviting him to friendly events and stuff like that, all he was invited to was unnecessarily extravagant and fancy parties from other companies, events he was forced to go to remain with a good image. And he definitively wasn’t used to people calling him for any reason other than business.

“Fuck man”- “Dad! No bad words!”- “Sorry, Chop… I don’t know if I’ll have time, I know I told I was going to rub in your stupid face how humble I am, but my time is all messed up, I swear.”

Another thing he didn’t understand was why the hell was him explaining himself so much, he was Roronoa Zoro, he did as he pleased…

“Anthony sounded really excited to come” … most times apparently.

Fuck the blond for knowing his weakness. He sighed, rubbing his temple. He loved his son and knew they weren’t spending enough time together, something he promised himself he wouldn’t do, being an absent father was one of his biggest fears, no kid deserved that, especially not his son.

“Tony, do you wanna go to Sanji’s party?” Chopper, who had been monitoring his answers until the moment, looked at him wild-eyed and started to jump from side to side, chanting “yes” every time his feet hit the floor.

“Told you so”, the veterinarian chuckle sounded clear through the phone, giving Zoro certainty that he wanted indeed to go, specially if it meant seeing the other man.

“Fine”, he sounded bitter than he actually was, “we’re coming”.

“Great! It will start at one, I believe you know the address, don’t be late and tell Tony I said ‘bye’! See you there, golden Marimo”

“Don’t call me that, asshole!”, but Sanji had already turned off.

“DAD! NOT BAD WORDS!”

Damn his life.

 

* * *

 

 

They arrived at the huge townhouse Robin lived in at one, he swears, but he only managed to find her house at two, why the fucking fuck did this thing had to be so damn enormous!? He parked and made his way to the front door, ringing the bell. Few seconds later something knocked on the door from inside with too much violence, making Chopper jump a meter away from the doorway, the assault continued until he heard someone telling “Sunny”, whatever the hell a “Sunny” was, to stop so the person could open the house.

When the door opened, Sanji was bend holding a gigantic orange dog by the collar, petting its rear to make sure it stayed in place. He looked up to them and smiled, the same reassuring smile he gave Zoro to encourage him to pet touch the horse, but of course his gaze was way more focused on his son.

“Hello there, don’t worry he doesn’t bite, I’m just holding him to guarantee he won’t run away”, while saying it with his sweet vet-voice, another dog, smaller and white, passed underneath his long legs, making his way to Zoro, wiggling his tail as if they had already met.

“Can I pet him?”, Chopper voice whispered in a mix of awe and fear, referring to the white one.

“Sure you can! Go ahead. LUFFY! CALL SUNNY”, the blond screamed, turning to the insides and an even louder yell passed through right after, calling the dog, which made his way as a rocket to wherever the brunet was, allowing Sanji to stand up and lean against the door. “No need to be scared of Merry, he’s older so he’s way calmer than Sunny.” His child wasted no time, meeting Sanji made him less scared of animals’ interactions, and kneeled to play with the sheep-like dog.

Meeting Sanji also made him realize how much Chopper was into animals, something he never realized, it was so simple, and stopping to think it wasn’t exactly a mystery, the few times he turned his TV on it was set either on Animal Planet or on a cartoon channel, in the rare occasions he had time to travel, or simply walk around in town, with Tony he always tried to find some wild animal, even in the mess of New York. The thought of not knowing his own son enough hit him like a rock would hit the bottom of the ocean.

“You okay?”, he dismissed he question nodding, as if he wasn’t having a small break down inside his mind.

“Can we get inside, or what?”

“Rude, but yes”

Inside the house, they were greeted loudly enough to turn one deaf, Franky, Luffy and, if his memory didn’t fool him, Nami and Ace looked at them with big smiles on their faces.

“We thought you wouldn’t come!”

“Yeah! Zoro-bro, what took you so long?”

“You see…”, he sheepish tried to avoid the question.

“Daddy got lost inside the townhouse”

Dead silence, he felt his face heating up.

“CHOPPER!”

“But man, I believe the path for house was a straight line”, Ace looked too astonished to even make fun of him.

“Bro, it’s not that hard, even for you”

“You got lost in a straight line? How!?”, Nami asked in a high-pitched whisper.

Sanji exploded in laughter beside him.

“No way you can be that dumb!”

He hated these people.

  

* * *

 

 

After that, he was attacked by the bigger dog, who apparently was much friendlier than he looked like and said friendly behavior covered him in spit, then attacked by Luffy, who jumped on his back and explained why he was so happy and grateful that they had come, it left Zoro speechless until Franky rescued him pulling the younger man from his back with no sort of gentleness, holding him by the collar of his T-shirt and literally yanking him from the man with such ease that Zoro wondered how many times did the blue-haired man did that move, specially after realizing that what surprised him didn’t even bothered Luffy, who sprinted to the back of the house.

“Come on, bro, let’s go outside”

“Sure”, he didn’t matter calling Chopper, as the child was still giggling with the white dog.

Outside meant the huge garden Robin grew, and even if Zoro had already gone there previously, since the woman was really the only thing he knew as a friend, it never ceased to amaze him. Her backyard resembled the outdoors of a Japanese temple, just missing the usual fountain or lake and adding the exotic flowers one wouldn’t see at a temple, coloring it like one of Monet’s paintings, with a mix of a modern hangout area, with wooden tiles, balcony, a grill, and cushions, chairs and tables millimetrically positioned. It was ample and replete of plants, making it beautiful and perfect for the party at the same time. He loved there, and although he specifically loved the usual peace, perfect for meditating, deep down, after seen the place with so many strangers, something in him knew that he would love to keep seeing the garden so much more vivid, with a different kind of life, one Zoro wasn’t used.

Looking around he saw the same people he met at the weeding and a few new faces happily chatting, everything too casual, nothing he was used to, though the real thing that had his focus was the blond veterinarian, currently by the grill, both cooking and swinging his body to keep Luffy and Sunny away from the already done food.

“Hey!  Zoro!”, the greeting succeeded in taking his attention from Sanji’s butt. Usopp stopped his conversation with his wife and the blue-haired woman, Bibi or something, and now they were smiling and waving at him, so inviting that Zoro’s mind tricked him into believing that they were close friends, “How have you been, man?”

Before he had time to answer, a piercing voice made its way through the garden.

“MISTER ZORO IS HERE!”, one of Usopp's kids screamed, making Kaya laugh.

“Oh, dear, they were so excited to meet Anthony again, they loved him!”, she explained covering her mouth due the laughter, as if trying to hide it, with such grace that Zoro wondered if the woman was from the stratum as her friends.

“Is Chopper here?!”, the one with bangs asked

“Please, say yes!”, the one with glasses followed.

Before he knew, he was surrounded. The kids jumping and loudly questioning him here Chopper was.

“Uh, yes, he’s inside with the dog.”, and as soon as the kids came they were gone, running to the house screaming “Chopper”, “let’s play” and “we missed you”.

 An endearing thought occurred Zoro, practically no one called him by the nickname, he didn’t give it away to everyone, to his classmates he was “Anthony”, not “Chopper”, the fact that those three kids knew it meant Tony really liked them, and to an introverted kid, that implied a lot. Once more, the man found himself freeze duo all this new information about his son and this crazy people.

But, all that mess called too much attention, making Sunny see him again, a terrible mistake. That muddle of orange, paws and tongue made his way towards Zoro, too fast for such a monstrous thing, still astonished from the hole situation he didn’t have time to think of react and doge, nor did Usopp. Sunny bumped onto Usopp, making him spill all his drink on Zoro, then jumped on damp shirt, spreading mud all over it, which would be ok, if a duck, seriously what the fuck was wrong with this people? , didn’t fly in Zoro’s direction and pooped on the back of his, once neat, shirt. The hole situation causing his mouth to hang lowed than any other time before.

“What the fuck”, he whispered, looking wild-eyed, in disbelief at his clothe.

“I am so sorry!”, Vivi, now he remembered her name, exclaimed and he blinked to look at her mortified face. She continued, for some reason, to ask for forgiveness, but her voiced started to fade as laughter erupted from afar. Blinking again, he looked at Sanji, who was bend forward holding his belly, as if Zoro’s disgrace was the funniest thing in the world. His heehaw seemed to break everyone’s facades as more and more laugher started, even Vivi’s worried expression melted into a grin, then to a full giggle. All of it making the man close his eyes

Fuck this day.

 

* * *

 

 

So now, Zoro was sit on a stool by the balcony, making himself the strongest drink he could, with a stupid Hawaiian shirt, that had too many colors on it, regretting leaving his bed.

“I truly think blue shirts, with palm trees, red Cadillacs, orange and purple flowers are just perfect for you, really suits your stupid green hair”. He turned to find Sanji with a smug smile looking at him.

“Can’t you shut your trap?”, he practically growled the words at the veterinarian.

“Oh come on, is that way to welcome your chef?”, after saying it, the blond placed an incredibly smelling plate full of meat, rice, garlic bread, something that resembled like potato salad and crumbs with more meat in it. Even this people’s barbecue was messed up. “Hey, jackass, at least look thankful, do you have any idea how fucking hard it’s to save some food with Luffy around?”

“Uh, I mean… yeah, thanks, I’m just surprised, I’ve never seen these things in a barbecue.”, he was feeling so stupid, his dignity was so low it could reach Earth’s mantle.

“Oh, this, Luffy’s fault, from where his family it’s from that’s how they eat, so I decided to do it like that this time. It looks weird, but I promise it’s really good, I made it after all!”. Zoro couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the blonde’s presumption, who knew the man was so full of himself? He decided to ignore the man in favor of eating.

And damn, to maintain the rest of his pride he fought an approval moan, that was just heavenly, even the rice was amazing, how was that possible he had no idea. Maybe Sanji was used to that kind of reaction, because when Zoro looked up from his food the blond was giving him a proud smile.

“I know right? None of your riches restaurants could make something so amazing.”, his smile was so bright and annoying Zoro had the urge to kiss it away.

“It’s eatable, nothing special”, he lied with a way too neutral expression for someone whose stomach was extremally satisfied, that washed the grin away, being automatically replaced by a scroll, everything in his posture now indicated indignance.

“Fuck you, you know that was amazing, you direction challenged algae!”

“Hey!”, he sounded madder than his actual feeling, he neither wasn’t used nor liked being threated with such rudeness and lack of respect, but there was something about the way Sanji got on his nerves that was completely different and fun, making him want to silly smile after all, “do you even know who you are talking to?”

“Do I look like I fucking care?”, he looked down at him with an eyebrow raised. The question and view made something snap inside Zoro, he slapped one hand on the balcony wooden frame, harder than louder, grabbed the veterinarian collar with the other, pulling the man close to his face, and started speaking in a low tone, a move that made him feel like a mafia boss.

“I could erase you, could pay someone and no one would ever know where you dropped dead”, never would him do something like that, never in million years, but if Sanji would fuck around with him, so would Zoro. Of course, he never received the reaction he was expecting, instead of looking scared he looked bored, staring back at him with disbelief.

Zoro couldn’t hold back his silly laugh, releasing the fabric and dropping back to his seat.

“You are fucking annoying”, he said after stopping giggling, shaking his head.

“You saw nothing”, Sanji seemed just as amused as him, and took a sit by this side, back turned to the balcony, facing the rest of his unfazed friends. “So what are you thinking about our humble reunion?”

“It’s a mess”, he returned eating.

“Would be hurtful if wasn’t so true. Do you mind?”, he showed him a cigarette.

“Nah, go ahead.”, and they stayed in silence, one finishing his food, the other his cigarette,

After finishing, Zoro turned around and started to explain himself.

“I’m just not used to this”, he gestured around to the people, “its loud and wild, but not bad”

“Wild?”, more a chuckle than a question.

“I understand the dog, though I don’t remember Robin having any, but a fucking duck?! What the fuck was that?!”, his wroth look making the blond laugh some more.

“Sunny and Merry are Luffy’s, but we all take care of them since that stupid always brings them along. Now, Carue is Vivi’s pet, for what I know she has him for years now.”

“Why?”, he murmured still full of disbelief.

“No idea, man, rich people are weird.”

Fucking weird people.

Fuck himself for starting to like them.

 

* * *

 

 

Night had already fallen, the artificial illumination making the garden look like a fairy-tale. This Saturday was one of the most pleasurable in his life, all those strangers turned out to be so delightful even Chopper was having the time of his life, now dancing to “Shotgun” with the same stupid choreography from Robin’s weeding with the kids, Luffy, Franky and Ace, whose boyfriend, Marco, was just too calm to be his. No one gave any indication of leaving, not even the pregnant girl, Koala, one of the bridesmaids, to Zoro’s surprise Luffy’s sister-in-law, most of them were intoxicated and louder than before, something he didn’t think it was possible, but discovered he didn’t mind it at all, telling himself it was because he was also drunk, but deep down it was clear as day that it was because he liked them.  He found himself sat at the floor, petting Sunny’s head, as the dog rested it on his thigh, bottle of sake in hands sharing it with Marco and Usopp, all three laughing at how dumb the dance was. Music after music, more people joined the deck, now turned into an improvised dance floor after Franky changed a few regular light bulbs by rotating- multicolored ones. Now he found himself alone watching too-complexes-for-drunks dance moves, too sober to dance, but drunk enough to wiggle from his place whenever someone said he was to stoic.

“Come on, Zoro!”, Luffy tried a “fishing-hook” move on him when “Shut up and Dance” started, so ridiculous he cracked in his face.

“Let’s go, daddy! I’ll teach you”, Chopper came after, by the middle of “Sweet Child of Mine”.

“Man! It’s a Backstreet Boys compilation! One simply can’t not dance!”, somehow Usopp and Franky had now white blazers and a Fedora each and were trying to convince him to be a part of the band, handing him over a bandana.

The last try was Nami’s, asking him how could he not be dancing when “Ain’t no mountain high enough” was playing to which he just shrugged.

“Forget him, my dear, he’s too boring for that.”, Sanji said and flipped him the bird, which he kindly responded with the same enthusiasm. Then he took her hand and moved to the center of the “dance floor”, where they started a duet, it was good, someone even lowered the speakers to listen to them, but more than the singing, the way Sanji moved, swinging his hips with such expertness and dancing with incredibly fluid movements caught Zoro unprepared, he stared at him, **hard** , speaking of which, something else dared to became hard as well, uncomfortableness started to creep up his spine, making him squirm, he just hopped no one was paying attention on him.

At some point, on another song, the man looked at him and smiled as his hips rocked in a way too provocative way, making his blood rush, and Zoro felt lightheaded as his stomach dropped.

_Fuck._

* * *

 

“I’m not letting you drive back”, Robin stated like a mother would, “You drank too much”

“But, I’m not drunk.”

“Don’t even start.”

He groaned, knowing there was no possible way to disobey Robin, just like the old times. It was 3 in the morning, he just wanted to go home.

“I can’t believe, you are rich but don’t have any driver at your command?”, Sanji appeared from nowhere.

“OH I SWEAR TO GOD”.

“Dad, don’t scream at mister Sanji!”.

He closed his eye, pressed his temple, then run his hand through his hair, pulling it a bit before running it on his face, pulling his lips and snorting in a rather painful way.

“Thanks, Tony.”, then he warped his right arm on Zoro’s shoulder, half friendly, half clumsy duo his drunkenness. “I’m kidding, Marimo. Come on, I’ll share my Uber with you.”

“Uber?”, the question made Sanji spit in his face with his laugher.

“Oh man! You don’t know what an Uber is, you really are fancy”

 “Screw you”. And pushed him trying to knock him down, the perspective of falling ceasing his giggles.

“Ok, serious, tomorrow you can take your car back, what’s your address?”

 

* * *

 

Zoro was behind the driver’s seat with Chopper sleep head resting on his lap, his head was on the backrest with his eyes closed, Sanji was on the front seat, chit-chatting with the driver, his son’s resonate, the sound of cars, Sanji’s voice, the tiredness of a hole day party and his light intoxication building an odd sense of calmness, he could get used to days like this.

_Woah, that was a dangerous train of though_.

“We are here, sir.”

“See ya, algae. Don’t get lost.”

“Where do you live?”, it took Sanji aback.

“Uhm… maybe 30 minutes from here?”

“If there’s no traffic”, the driver corrected him.

“Yeah… so maybe an hour?”

“Probably.”

“Let’s go then.”

_WHAT AM I DOING?!_

“Go where?”

“Upstairs”

_Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!_

“But, why?”

“It’s late as fuck, just shut up and come on”, with that he adjusted Chopper on his arms and opened the door, after handling a 50-dollar bill for the driver.

“Wait! Are you sure?!”

“JUST COME”, his scream making Chopper squirm. “Sorry, buddy.”

He climbed the entrance stairway and waited for the blond.

_What’s wrong with me?_

“Ok, guide me through your golden palace.”

“Shut it, asshole.”

 

* * *

 

 

He placed Chopper on his bed and kissed him good night, Sanji waiting him by the bedroom’s door watching him with a sleep smile, the whole scene too domestic, pranking his mind.

“You are really sweet with him”, he never truly realized he had a mirror of Sanji’s smile in face.

“I gotta be, he’s my son.”

Maybe something became darker on Sanji’s face, maybe it was a sad glint in his eyes, but maybe it was just Zoro’s half drunk mind. He didn’t comment.

“You can have my bedroom”, he pointed to the door by the end of the corridor.

“How about you?”, Sanji looked confused now.

“I’ll have the couch, ‘m more used”, he saw Sanji opening his mouth to protest, but stopped him by raising his hand,  “just go, shut up.”, and he realized it was an endgame. Sighing he made his way to the pointed door.

“Fine, goodnight Zoro”, his voice was so welcome, so quiet, almost as sweet as when he spoke with Chopper by Robin’s door.

“Night, Sanji” , damn he wanted to follow him and kiss that perfect mouth, he wanted to hear that quiet voice in a very different way, he went to the sofa instead, laying down and resting his head on his folded arms supported by the armrest.

_I’m so screwed_ , he recognized,

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I hate college life.  
> So, what did you think? Was it good? Any suggestions?  
>  Let me just explain one thing, Zoro will fall fast, duo the fact he is a little bit of affection starved. I think that was it.  
> Thanks for reading <3 (if you want to talk with me, here's my tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sexy-okama)   
> Bye-bye.


	4. Of breakfasts and dinners

He groaned awake, the morning sun too unbearable to ignore. Opened his eyes, staring the celling for a long moment, questioning himself if he really wanted to move from the comfortable position on the couch. Yeah, he was okay with laying awake, closing his eyes once more, his mind traveled back to the previous day, to how happy his son was with those people, Zoro was pretty sure he had the time of his life doing everything he never did before in a party: talking, dancing, he even joined the adults on the “karaoke session”, started by Sanji and Nami. Speaking of which, what the fuck was even Sanji, how could someone dance like that? It wasn’t normal to look that hot while singing a gospel, if god was actually there that probably didn’t look good to his eyes, for Zoro’s though, that’s a whole different story, what he saw was probably more alluring than all the other things in his life, forget about those famous movie chicks’ flirtations or the small strip shows he received before, Sanji was amazing, he was too much for him to handle, not only his body moved like Zoro’s  wildest dreams, but the fucker had an stunning voice, thinking about the blond sing made him wonder how would him sound breathless, moving his hips like that while ridding Zoro, the same though that occurred to him last night before bidding goodnight to the man. Wild-eyed, he remembers the fact that said erotic blond slept in his house, no, not only in his house, but also on his bed, the fact making him sit up abruptly, with a somewhat strangled scream on his throat.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

The voice coming from the kitchen startled him, making him jump once again, now turning towards it. The apartment he lived in had an “American” kitchen-living room disposal, with half a wall, half a balcony delimited the two ambiences. The visitor had his elbows leaned on the marble surface, holding a cup on one hand and supporting his head, which sported a bemused face, way too provocative for Zoro’s liking.

“Fuck off”, he groaned once more, “What are you drinking?”, his sleep-gruffy voice making him sound way bitter than he actually was, and it clearly worried the other man, his face now showing concern, Sanji couldn’t help but wonder if he had crossed a line there, wondering around someone else’s kitchen without his consent.

“Uh… I made some coffee, I hope it is ok”, now he realized the delicious smell filling the place.

“Is there any left?”

“Yes”

“Then it’s fucking fine”, and got up, walking towards his coffee machine to have some, not paying attention nor realizing the relief that washed over the blond. Zoro served himself and couldn’t mask a satisfied moan as soon as the liquid reached his tongue. Even the coffee Sanji did was amazing, what kind of mojo did he had? Was it a reflection of Zoro’s crush?

“Do you like it?”, the voice was innocent, but Zoro didn’t need to turn see his smirk.

“I can’t differ, is it coffee or tea?”, he looked at him with a fake confused face, soon replaced by a sarcastic expression.

“Oh, what’s your problem? Why can’t just admit it’s good?!”

“Wouldn’t be as nice”

Silence. Sanji blinked at him astonished before he lowered his head and chucked, shaking his head.

“You are awful”, he said looking back at Zoro, his smile so breathtaking the man had to fought down a blush, maybe waking up to this dynamic wouldn’t be so bad.

No, that was a bad thought.

They stayed in silence, a comfortable one, both calmly sipping their cups.

“Don’t you have breakfast or…?”

“I swear, if you ask about any personal cook, I’ll cut you in half”

“Okay”, apparently Zoro’s threats had no effect on the blond, because again instead of being afraid or taken aback he just struggled the question off. “Can I make breakfast then, Zorro?”

“Ha-ha, never heard that one before”, he took another sip, “but yeah, suit yourself”

Moving away from the veterinarian he went down the hall towards his bathroom. In there he peed and moved to brush his teeth, where he had a view of his face and Sanji stupid joke made sense. Somehow there was a dark green, almost black, bandana around his head, disturbed he faced himself, how, why and when did it stopped there? Zoro removed the thing with too much strength, ripping a few tufts of green hair tied in its knot out, the whole process made him hiss, and removed the stupid dumb Hawaiian shirt, exchanging it for a tank top. It hit him that right now only one stupidly annoying person could answer him, so he washed his hands and went back to the kitchen, where the blond was thoughtful staring at the refrigerator.

“How?”, he asked shaking the piece of cloth in front of his face, his sudden come back disturbing Sanji breakfast planning for a minute before he returned to the fridge, taking eggs and milk with him.

“They wanted you to be a Backstreet, remember?”

“Yes, I _remember_ ”, he said in all his maturity, trying to mimic his voice, “I also remember not joining them”

“Didn’t dance, but you took the bandana”

“Did not.”

“Did so, knotted it on your personal garden you call hair and told everyone you retired, no one expected that, was really funny actually”, he smiled, clearly making fun of him again, and Zoro had the urge to erase it either with a punch or a kiss, his desire wasn’t exactly evident inside his mind, but instead leaned on the balcony and rubbed his face.

“I can’t believe”

“Oh, trust me, I wouldn’t lie about it.”, Sanji heard the man muttering ‘I hate myself’ before facing the selected ingredients, “What do you and Tony usually eat?”

“We don’t have a schedule for food, but I don’t take sweets, he loves it, especially cotton candy and chocolate”, that had him thinking a little.

“’kay, I can work with that.”, Sanji said and started to work. Crossing his arms, Zoro couldn’t help but watch the man cooking, something he did with as much ease as dancing, fluid movements interrupted only to ask Zoro were the utensils where, the vision making him wonder where did he learned to cook like that, the question flowed from his mouth without him even realizing.

“My… father owed a restaurant, he taught me almost everything he knows”

“So… why not assuming the family business?”

“Well”, that was something Sanji wasn’t really used to respond, mostly because people didn’t usually ask him, his friends supported him and he didn’t own anyone any explanations, but Zoro was a nice guy, and now he was starting to become a friend, not like is was some information anyone could hold against him. “cooking is almost too natural for me, I wanted more, a challenge, you know? Cooking is my passion, I won’t deny, but it would be too easy, also it burned down, and he’s retired now, what’s left is under my, well, somewhat uncles… and god forbite me working for them.”

“Damn.”, what are you supposed to say when someone tells such a bizarre story?

“Oh I know, plus I have my own dreams, something a restaurant would never help me achieve.”

“Can I know about it?”

Sanji’s expression became blank for a moment, thinking, looking at Zoro without really seeing him, then he turned back and resumed to cook again, Zoro thought he took a stepped too far, bugging into the man’s life as if they were huge friends, damn him for having no social skills. He started to feel uncomfortable, maybe he should go and wake Chopper up, give him some space to pretend nothing happened. As he was about to move, he heard Sanji’s frustrated whisper.

“Ugh, how do I explain it?”, before speaking he drummed his fingers on the surface of the cooktop, “I want to somewhat change the world, even if just a little”, and stopped with an exasperated huff, facing Zoro once again.

“All Blue”

That was it.

Okay.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

“An oceanographic rehabilitation center, it’s been my dream since God knows how long”, he was gazing the nothing again, probably thinking about this place.

“Never heard of it”

“Well, that’s good”, Sanji laughed and finally really looked at Zoro, “ _I_ want to open it”

“Oh”

More laugh.

“I know, crazy right? But damn the world if I’m failing at this!”

The smile he sported was so fucking genuine, so bright, so… damn, so contagious.

“Never would doubt you”, he said truthfully, small smile on lips and maybe, just maybe, his gaze showed how fond he was felling.

Somehow, his statement made Sanji’s smile even bigger, he knew deep down Zoro wouldn’t make fun of his dream, and this concrete knowledge made the kid inside him jump and urge him to keep talking about his future plans, the animals he could help, the life he would live.

“You are vibrating, dumb cook, calm down”, thought the annoyance stopped at his voice, fond expression still on, which Sanji decided to ignore.

“No, I’m not, fuck you”

He decided it was best if he finished the breakfast in silence.

 

* * *

“Wake up Anthony”

“Don’t fucking boss me”, he said astonished.

“I literally just made you a fucking amazing breakfast, screw yourself and do as I say!”

“Fuck you”

“I’m gonna kick your ass so hard you’ll need crutches”

“I’d like to see you try, Steve Irwin wannabe”, this was starting to be so fun it was completely wrong

“Repeat that! I dare you to repeat that, marimo!”

Without realizing, they were at each other faces, looking like UFC fighters on the official photo, a ridiculous scene of false hostilities.

“What’s happening?”, Chopper sleepy voice asked, making the two man jump away from each other, Zoro sitting back on the sofa and Sanji going back to the kitchen.

“Nothing much, good morning, kiddo”, Zoro’s answer was a low grunt as his son climbed his legs to sit on his lap and hugged him, still pretty much asleep. “Did you sleep well?”, he kissed his hair.

“Yea, I dreamed with Luffy’s dogs, we were running, and it was really nice”, he told looking up to his father, he knew what would come next, “can we have one?!”

“Of course, we can always have dreams”, he joked, looking away from the kid as he heard the blond’s laughter, said man was in the same position as when Zoro woke up, looking at them with soft eyes.

“Dad!”, but despite his offended tone, he was laughing.

“Morning, Anthony, are you hungry?”

“Mister Sanji!”, he jumped and ran towards him, “Did you cook? What did you make? Can I eat it?”

“Why don’t you go wash up and discover?”, he bended down and ruffled his hair.

This was so domestic, Zoro was reaching a whole new level of screwed up.

“Pancakes?! I love pancakes!!”

They were all sat at the table, chit-chatting, well, Sanji and Chopper were chatting, Zoro would comment one thing or another, since he was trying to solve some work stuff, what already caused a discussion between him and the vet, who said “a meal it’s a ‘no-work’ ambience”, oh, as if Zoro had that option. Almost two hours had passed, and surprisingly, but not much hence Zoro’s feelings towards the other man, no eviction note was given, now his son and his crush (fuck himself) were discussing about Sanji’s “work friends”, the cutest way one could describe the Zoo animals in Sanji’s opinion. It was almost 4 P.M. when he got a phone call and started to ramble about how much he needed to go.

“Already?”, Tony was hugging the man’s legs, puppy eyes trying to convince the man to stay, he was more indiscreet about his disappointment than Zoro.

“Sorry, buddy, I really need to go”, it was almost comical to watch the hard time Sanji was having to fight the younger’s pleads. “I need to make sure everything goes perfect! I’ll send you a picture of the baby, okay?”

“Really?!”

“Baby?”

“Really”, he answered looking down, and turned to Zoro, “our elephant apparently is going into labor”

“Can’t she do it on her own? Like, you know, they do on nature?”, he tried to mask his surprise.

“I was the one that did the insemination, I was the one observing the gestation, like hell I’m losing the birth, much less let anything go wrong!”, Zoro had so many questions, he was so confused “That was my boss face as well”, he gave a childish laugh. “See ya!”

And ran towards the stairs, waving to the two by the door, leaving an excited kid and a little emptier Zoro behind.

* * *

It was almost 10 P.M. when Zoro’s phone vibrated, the screen shined, “Mr. Prince” flashing, he was ashamed of how fast he opened the message, it was almost a photobook, several pictures of a gigantic elephant, of the baby, some with Sanji all smiles even with exhaustion all over his features, some with other people and some of the mom with her baby, then an audio of him explaining the baby was “a beautiful girl”, that they were so lucky because “she was perfect and healthy” and how they were struggling to name her, since they didn’t want to open a public voting.

‘Show Anthony’, was the only text message.

‘Quit bossing me around’, he sent, but when to show it to Chopper anyways.

When he opened the bedroom door, his kid threw a book away and covered his face.

 _Thank goodness he’s so bad at lying_.

“Oh he is asleep, what a pity… Sanji just texted me the pictures he promised” and waited.

“I’M AWAKE! SHOW ME, SHOW ME, SHOW ME!”, his blanked had the same destination as the book., shaking his head humorously, the father sat beside him.

Chopper’s eyes shined with each photo, and insisted in calling “Mister Sanji”, when the doctor picked up, his voice slurred but still finding excitement to talk with the kid telling him how cute she was, how excited to meet her he was, when could he go visit her and if her name could be Abidemi, since it was only her and her mommy at the zoo.

“What kindda name is this?”

“It means ‘born in lack of the father’, isn’t how she was born?”

Silence, both adults too astonished to say anything.

“Is it a bad name?”

“Tony, it’s just perfect! You are amazing, kid!”, he sounded a little breath taken.

“This doesn’t make me happy, you dummy!”, a soft laughter could be heard, and a yawn followed after, “you should go to sleep, mister Sanji”

“I’m the adult here, I’m the one who should be saying this”

“No, you’re just as wrong as Chop, both of you should be asleep by now. So go to sleep, now!”, Zoro was quiet until now, just observing the sweet dynamic the two had.

“Who do you think you are to” another yawn, “to act like my dad?”

“Cook, I don’t care about you, but Chop needs to sleep”

“But dad!”

“You have school tomorrow”

“But!”

“We can talk more tomorrow, Tony, you should listen to your father”

For some seconds he stared his father and the phone, as if staring Sanji, with a sad shocked face, until he whispered a sad “okay” and bid goodnight to them. Zoro, kissed and tucked him again, Sanji still line, but forgotten, only after he closed the kid’s door that the blond spoke again.

“You have an amazing child”, tone as soft as the previously night, before he went to sleep.

“I know”, he said just as sweet.

“I’ve gotta wake up early tomorrow as well…”

“Oh”, he didn’t hide his disappointment so well this time.

“Talk to you tomorrow”, in between an affirmative and a question.

“I’ll see if I have time in my scheduled for you, maybe you can talk to my secretary”

“Oh, fuck you”

“Good night, stupid cook”

“Good night, rich algae”

 

* * *

The weeks passed in a blur, everything was pretty much the same, except that he talked with Sanji everyday now, phone calls, something he never did before, even if most times it was for him and Chopper talk about the new born and the future cubs of the zoo, and texts, not only with the vet, but with all of them, especially Usopp and Kaya, to schedule the kids’ play time, he was even on a group chat, “Straw-hats” was the name, and just as their real life encounter, it was an annoying mess he couldn’t left, or at least didn’t find the will to do so. He didn’t have the time to see Luffy’s dumb memes, or Franky stupid “sexy” stickers, or to talk every day with Sanji about stupid things, or to fight with him the whole day about things he didn’t remember by the end of the day, he was a serious man, a business man, a high performance athlete and a father for goodness’ sake, he didn’t have the time to take Luffy’s dogs walking because the dude was away and Ace didn’t have the time, nor the patience to look after four kids because Kaya was on the night shift and Usopp had a last minute meeting, nor the knowledge to feed Vivi’s dumb duck when he went once dine at Sanji’s, what the fuck was a duck supposed to eat? But still, he did all those things.

Speaking of which, dinners at Sanji apparently were a routine to everyone, Friday night was the day when he would ask who would come to his home and what they wanted to eat, but today it was only him and Sanji, and in his mind he should be more nervous then he was, maybe his crush was starting to fade.

“So, remind me again where is Chopper?”, by now, all of them knew about the nickname.

“The other horsemen invited him for a sleep over”

“They really hit it off”

“Yeah, I’m still shocked how fast you all won the kid”, he sipped the sake he brought over, inhaling the intoxicating smell coming from the kitchen, almost two months had passed and still he couldn’t get used to how amazing his food was.

“Only him?”, Sanji looked over his shoulder, knowing smirk on lips, making Zoro’s heart skip a beat.

Ok, the crush as still pretty much alive.

“Yeah, I have no heart”, they both laughed and enjoyed the calm atmosphere, it was the first time they were truly alone, but things were so fluid one wouldn’t guess. “What are you doing anyway?”, he asked after a while.

“Udon and onigiri”, just the though was enough to make his mouth water, “I remembered you saying about your family being from there and onigiri it’s your favorite, right?”

He said that once, a long time ago, just a random information he threw one day at a nonsense conversation, the fact that Sanji remembered this made his mind daydream more than he would ever like to admit.

“Yeah”, he said softly.

His kitchen was like Zoro’s but smaller, Zoro was inside the kitchen, leaning on the balcony and glass still in hands.

“I’m about to change your world”, the blond said coming closer to him, until his hands where on the balcony and on each side of Zoro’s hips, “No other meal will be good enough for you anymore, you will compliment my food and beg for more, do you hear me? I’s my personal challenge for tonight, you fucker”, he said and stole the glass from the astonished man before turning back to the stove.

Oh, could he be more fucked?

 

* * *

As usual, the food was amazing, like nothing else he had ever tasted. They were now washing the dishes, the same comfortable silence roaming them, something Zoro had grown too fond of.

“It was good”, Sanji only muttered a confused “uh”, “the food, the onigiri was amazing”, his confused face was just too amazing, way funnier than what Zoro expected, “but the udon could be better.”, in seconds confusion became anger.

“You, asshole! You couldn’t let me have this one, could you?!”, his laugher died when Sanji pulled that stupid gourmet tap out and threw way too much water on his face, making him choke. “You better dry the floor when you’re done” and left the kitchen.

* * *

“Dude!! Don’t dry your face with my dishcloth, you Neanderthal!”. With almost 3 sake bottles up, Sanji struggled to take he cloth from Zoro’s hands, tripping and more falling onto him than reaching his hands and cursing like a no sailor could. Zoro was slightly taller, but he was almost bending in half in attempt of letting the fabric as far as he could, since Sanji, as clumsy as he was, was practically climbing him. “just give me that shit, stop being an ass!”, suddenly Sanji had an idea, he put a small distance between them and tilted his head up, and bit down Zoro’s neck, painfully enough to make him drop it but not enough to avoid his blood going to all the wrong places, the blond missed this reaction, only concerned in taking the cloth away and celebrate his small victory, when he came back from the laundry, Zoro was at the same place, astonished.

“Don’t do that. Ever again.”, even though their constant fights, it was the first time he ever looked so serious, something in Sanji’s blood got cold, but there was too much alcohol in his system to comprehend the current situation, so he simply showed him his tongue, like the adult he was, making Zoro sigh, passing a hand thru his hair, cursing himself for coming with so many bottles.

 

* * *

It was almost 3 A.M. now, previous event almost forgotten for now, Sanji lied on the couch, starting to sober up with Zoro sat near his head by the floor, not daring turning his head to stare at the man behind him, and his they reached almost every topic they could, Sanji’s work; Zoro’s work; Chopper grades; mermaids, apparently the veterinarian was a little bit too enamored by them. Zoro discovered the kind of works him did, reproduction with all kinds of species, being Abidemi his most adventurous try and Cheetahs his current obsession, since the Zoo had now a new preservation project. Sanji finally understood why the man was so rich, he was one of the heirs of a multinational bank and hence being the heir and not the oldest, he had an older sister, had its perks he could dedicate to swordsmanship and compete on both fencing and kenjutsu championships.

“Why not try for the golden metal? I mean, you do have what it takes to compete on the next Olympics, don’t you?”

“In thesis, yes… but I’m a father if your dumb brain doesn’t remember”, he received a punch, “meeting you guys made me realize I wasn’t being exactly a present one, so I’m trying to change that…”, suddenly he felt too exposed, facing the glass he had in hands too hard and cleaning the condensation away. “I don’t want to throw that away right now, you know?”

Silence, a heavy one this time, did he say something wrong?

“You are an amazing father.”, he scoffed at that, even if he felt his face getting warmer by the second, especially because Sanji placed a hand on his face, forcing him to look at right at him. “No, I mean it, Zoro, what you are doing with Chopper it’s amazing, he’s so smart, and polite and sweet! You should give yourself more credit.”.

His heart was racing, he was starting to fell numb, damnit, he was falling so hard it would hurt like a bitch when he hit the bottom, even though, he could see the sadness in his eyes.

“Why do you always look so sad when you talk about Chopper and me?”

More silence, heavier than before, now, for sure, he stepped on a blister.

“That’s for another time.”

Sanji’s hand was still on his face, without giving much thought Zoro took it on his hands, ever so gentle, and kissed the inside of his wrist.

“Whenever you fill ready.”

And that was the moment Sanji realized how screwed he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay, I hope you liked this chapter, I had a lot of fun writting it!


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